As chief pontiff of the Catholic church and head of state of Vatican City, the Pope typically rides around in a pretty plush set of custom wheels. The current Pope Francis has been known to favor more low-key modes of transportation, but now he’s received a more frugal kind of car altogether.
During a sustainability conference at the Vatican this week, His Holiness received a new Opel Ampera-e, delivered personally by Opel CEO Dr. Karl-Thomas Newmann.
Not to be confused with the previous Ampera that was based on the Chevy Volt, the Ampera-e is the European version of the smaller Chevy Bolt – an all-electric hatchback with a range of over 300 miles on a single charge. It’s one in an array of General Motors products that Opel is expected to continue offering even after its acquisition by the PSA Group.
The arrival of the Ampera-e in Vatican City helps the theocratic city-state get closer to its goal of becoming the first CO2-free country in the world. The noble pursuit shouldn’t be as difficult for the Vatican as it would be for other countries, considering that it’s not only the smallest in the world, but gets its electricity from petroleum and natural gas burned outside its own borders.
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